DR is funded by a media licence which is charged to all Danish households with television sets, computers, smartphones and other devices with internet access.

Today, DR operates six television channels, all of which are distributed free-to-air via a nationwide DVB-T network.[5] DR also operates eight radio channels. All are available nationally on DAB+ radio and online, with the four original stations also available on FM radio.[6]

DR was founded on April 1, 1925 under the name of Radioordningen, which was changed to Statsradiofonien in 1926, to Danmarks Radio in 1959,[7] and to DR in 1996.[8]

During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, radio broadcasts were censored – under particularly harsh conditions from August 1943 – leading many Danes to turn to Danish-language broadcasts from the BBC or the illegal press,[9] as well as Swedish radio in 1944–1945.[7]

Statsradiofonien's second FM radio station, Program 2 (P2), was added in 1951, followed by P3 in 1963.

Experimental television broadcasts started in 1949, with regular programming beginning on October 2, 1951 with the launch of Denmark's first television channel. Daily programming began in 1954.[7] Colour television test broadcasts were started in March 1967, with the first large-scale colour broadcasting occurring for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.[10] Danmarks Radio officially ended "test" transmissions of colour television on April 1, 1970, although it wasn't until 1978 that their last black-and-white television program (TV Avisen) switched to colour.[10]

On exactly 16 May 1983 at 14:00 CEST, DR launched its first teletext information service, which is still available on all DR channels.[11]

Danmarks Radio's monopoly on national television lasted until 1988, when TV 2 started broadcasting.[12] 8 years later DR launched their second television channel, DR2 on August 30, 1996.[13] It was sometimes called den hemmelige kanal ("the secret channel") in its early years because it could not be seen nationwide at its launch.

The first trials of DAB were carried out in 1995,[14] with eight channels officially launching in October 2002.[15]

On June 7, 2007, DR launched an online-only news channel DR Update.[16] It was later added as a traditional channel. At the Danish changeover to over-the-air digital signals on November 1, 2009, DR added three new channels to their lineup[17]

In 2013 a new logo in which the letters "DR" featured in a white sans-serif font on a black background was introduced, and the line-up of television channels was changed once again. A new channel targeting young people, DR3 replaced DR HD. Another channel for children, DR Ultra replaced DR Update. The closure of DR Update was the start of a revamping of DR 2 as a channel for news and society.

A nationwide switch from DAB to the newer DAB+ format took place on 1 October 2017.[18] All of DR's stations plus the privately owned, public service channel - Radio24Syv, moved to the second national DAB+ multiplex (DAB-blok 2).

The principal means of funding DR is through the media licence, costing 2.492 DKK per year per household since 2017.[19] Traditionally, radio and television owners were obliged to pay the licence, though the increased availability of online streaming led to the television licence being replaced by the media licence on January 1, 2007. The media licence is mandatory for all owners of television sets, as well as computers, smartphones or other devices with internet access.[20]

In 2007 approximately 180,000 households did not pay media licence.[21]

Revenue also comes from commercial activities such as concerts and events in the Koncerthuset, from book, CD, and DVD sales, and from overseas sales of its catalogue of programmes.

DR P4 – DR's most popular radio channel: a "modern public service station" broadcast in 10 regional versions, mixing popular music with national and local news. P4 also provides a Traffic Message Channel for delivering traffic and travel information.

DR P5 – Focuses on older music from the 1950s and 1960s mixed in with some newer music.

All of Denmark is covered by digital terrestrial reception through a nationwide DVB-T and MPEG-4 network comprising six multiplexes (MUX). DR owns MUXes 1 and 2 in a joint-venture between DR and TV 2. MUXes 1 and 2 broadcast all six DR channels unencrypted. Given the low topography of the Danish mainland and islands, so-called signal overspill is inevitable if every part of the country is to receive coverage. Hence, all DRs' channels are available in northernmost Germany, and Scania the southernmost part of Sweden.

Greenland

Every city in Greenland can receive DR1, DR2 and DR Ultra free-to-air via a public DVB-T network.

Since 1963, DR has awarded the Rosenkjær Prize to a person who has proven an ability to make a difficult subject accessible to a wider audience in an understandable and vivid form. The prizewinner commits to hold a number of radio lectures. The prize is named after Jens Rosenkjær (1883–1976), Head of State Broadcasting 1937–53. The prize is now DKK 50,000, up from 25,000 in 2008, and 40,000 in 2009[28]

DR's board of directors comprises 11 members appointed for a four-year period. Three members, including the chair, are appointed by the Minister of Culture, and six by Parliament, while the employees of DR elect two members. The board has overall responsibility for DR programs and for the hiring of DR's chief executive, the director general, and the remaining management positions.

The project became more expensive than planned, forcing DR to make drastic budget cuts.[32] In April 2007 it was announced that 300 employees would be laid off, meaning that most of the sports department would be closed down as well as most of the educational department, several programmes and the radio channel DR X.[33][34] DR would also give up its rights to the Olympic Games and attempt to sell the rights to a number of other sports events including football.[35]

As the major recipient of license funds, DR operates under a public service contract with the government which it was unable to fulfil in the wake of the budget crisis related to the move.[36][37][38] The budget overspends caused a major scandal which saw senior management of DR replaced, and was followed by a heated political debate over whether the service should receive additional emergency funding[citation needed]. Various measures to mitigate the impact on the public service obligations of the institution were contemplated by the Danish Parliament, and a compromise was agreed to limit the impact of the deficit.

For over a decade, the Danish People's Party, a nativist[39] and anti-immigrant political party,[40] has criticized DR for alleged bias in its political news coverage, citing the process for appointment to DR's board of directors. In response, DR set up a "watchdog committee" intended to detect and report upon any bias.

The first large-scale scientific content analysis of political news coverage on DR published by the Centre for Journalism at the University of Southern Denmark, studying election news coverage in the years 1994–2007, documented no persistent political bias towards either the left or the right.[41] News coverage of political actors and parties was found to be largely similar to the news coverage on DR's competitor TV 2. The study concluded that political news coverage on both broadcasters was guided by journalistic professional criteria as to the newsworthiness of political actors and political issues, not by partisan considerations.